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Game of Negs Part II: Even MORE Travel Agent stuff ups

Last week I wrote an article about that word that agents most fear. And although I listed five stuff ups from the chronicles of history, these just weren't EPIC enough for our readers...

Last week I wrote an article about that word that agents most fear. And although I listed five stuff ups from the chronicles of history, these just weren’t EPIC enough for our readers…

In fact, some of you guys chimed in with your own neg stories and we just had to broadcast them to the world – again, as much as for educational as entertainment purposes.

And don’t worry guys: your requests for anonymity will be rightfully respected…

Before we get to an absolute WHOPPER of a neg, let’s start off with some smaller ones…

Sending clients to the wrong country is always going to end up costing you heaps.

Expos are high-pressure, high-stress environments, and unfortunately these conditions breed costly mistakes.

For God’s sake, don’t fiddle around in Gal. Mistakes are only ever a keystroke away, and once you’ve pressed enter, you’re toast.

And now ladies and gentlemen, the biggest neg in KarryOn history…

 

The Carnival trip from hell – Neg 35k

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Submitted anonymously by an agent, this neg may just be one of the biggest in history.

It tells the tale of five people travelling to Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as part of a larger Americas trip. One of the passengers was travelling on a British passport, which didn’t require a Brazilian visa. However, the other four passengers were Aussies, and obviously they DO require one.

But the clients were under the care of a novice who just assumed that as Australia is part of the Commonwealth, and British passport holders don’t require a Brazilian visa, then neither did the Aussies. Obviously that was a HUGE mistake…

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Anyway, fast forward to half-way through their holiday. The clients were living it up in NYC, having just disembarked from a seven day cruise. They had a few nights post cruise and were enjoying being in NYC. However, when it came time to go to the airport to catch their flight to Brazil, their dream holiday came to an abrupt end.

The four Aussies were denied boarding on grounds of not having the required visa – fair enough – and unfortunately there simply wasn’t enough time to get them an emergency visa. Yikes!

According to the source, the pay-out was MASSIVE, with reimbursement covering all expenses already paid for the trip, a credit towards a future trip and then all of the changes/reaccommodating/adcols in one of the busiest seasons of the year.

It also turned out that the novice who booked the passengers had actually left the company in-between taking the final payment and giving out their documents. When the signed invoices were checked it appear that the agent had checked their passports/visa. However, the wrong information was given: Aussies do require visas for Brazil, even if British nationals do not – being part of the Commonwealth was and is irrelevant when it comes to visa issues.

Were these negs epic enough for you? Or do you have even more you’d like to share? If so, leave them in the comments below or email me at shaun@karryon.com.au